Spain: Trade Unions in Spain

A study published by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
Spain is a textbook example of the exploitation of mass anxiety in the face of un- employment for the purpose of a neoliberal restructuring of employment relations, including wage cuts, prolongation of working time, erosion of sectoral collective agreements, weakening of trade unions and deregulation of the labour market. The consolidation of the Spanish trade unions that took place in the course of the employment boom (1994–2007) faces new challenges because of the crisis. In the ongoing crisis the trade unions have no effective instruments to safeguard employment, incomes and workers’ rights and are being weakened as a result of labour market reforms (2010 and 2012) and social cuts. Structural change and employment reductions will continue to occur in Spain for some time and key enterprises and sectors for trade unions, such as airlines, banks and savings banks are suffering a severe reduction in employment. The crisis of democracy in Spain and the fragmentation of social protest have put the trade unions in an ambiguous position. On one hand, they are the central protest movement and social opposition to neoliberal policies; on the other hand, they are part of the political system and its institutions and are thus criticised by many civil society protest movements.